Roles of mental health professionals in multidisciplinary medically supervised treatment programs for obesity

Excess weight is a major medical problem for more than one third of Americans and, after cigarette smoking, is the second largest cause of death. However, obesity treatments remain controversial, and only surgical therapies have patient volume and appropriate follow-up adequate to prove effectiveness. National Institutes of Health conferences on obesity treatments and the Institute of Medicine have suggested that all obesity treatment programs, including those which are medically supervised, should be multidisciplinary, involving professionals from the behavioral, nutritional, and exercise fields to facilitate delivery of a patient-treatment matching strategy. There are no models to suggest how these recommendations should be accomplished or whether they are financially feasible. We present a case management model that includes psychotherapists in a multidisciplinary obesity treatment program. More data are needed to show whether these suggestions improve cost-effectiveness of obesity treatments.